Golsteyn has claimed that an Afghan tribal elder told him that Rasoul was a Taliban bomb maker who was responsible for the death of two Marines. At the time, Rasoul was in custody, but the U.S. military required Golsteyn to release him after a certain period of time.

Fearing that Rasoul would kill the Afghan tribal leader once he was free, Golsteyn lay in wait and shot him off base, as he has admitted several times.

"Golsteyn has said he later shot the terrorist because he was certain that the terrorist's bombmaking activities would continue to threaten American troops and their Afghan partners, including Afghan civilians who had helped identify him," a statement from The White House said.

"After nearly a decade-long inquiry and multiple investigations, a swift resolution to the case of Major Golsteyn is in the interests of justice. Clemency for Major Golsteyn has broad support, including from Representatives Louie Gohmert, Duncan Hunter, Mike Johnson, Ralph Abraham, and Clay Higgins, American author and Marine combat veteran Bing West, and Army combat veteran Pete Hegseth."

Additionally, Trump pardoned 1st Lt. Clint Lorance, who had been convicted of murder for ordering his soldiers to open fire on three unarmed Afghan men, two of whom were killed, and restored the rank of Navy SEAL Chief Edward Gallagher, who was found not guilty of murdering a wounded ISIS prisoner but convicted of taking an unauthorized photo with the corpse.

Golsteyn first acknowledged killing Rasoul in 2011 while taking a polygraph test for a CIA job, according to Washington Post reporter Dan Lamothe. He also said that he initially buried Rasoul, but he and two other soldiers returned to the grave later to exhume Rasoul's body and burn it.

The Army launched an investigation but decided not to prosecute Golsteyn. That changed after Golsteyn admitted to Fox News' Bret Baier during an October 2016 interview that he had killed Rasoul.

In February, Golsteyn told the Washington Post and Fox News that he legally ambushed Rasoul, who was trying to rejoin the Taliban after being released.

"Over these years, what the Army – particularly this time, the United States Army Special Operations Command – seems to be intent on doing is characterizing an ambush as murder," Golsteyn told Fox & Friends' Pete Hegseth in a Feb. 10 interview. "What Army special operators and regular Army, like infantry soldiers, have done over the last 15 years, those routine combat actions are now being characterized as murder."

On Nov. 4, Hegseth announced that Trump would soon exonerate Golsteyn and former Army 1st Lt. Clint Lorance, who was convicted of murder for ordering his troops to open fire on three unarmed Afghan men, two of whom were killed. Hegseth also said the president would restore Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher's rank to chief and stop the Navy from taking away his SEAL trident.